The match between Saint-Etienne and AS Monaco (ASM), counting for the 34and Ligue 1 day, Saturday April 23, resumed after a half-hour break, following a crisis unit including referees, authorities and clubs.
“The decision which was taken in agreement of course with the public authorities, the two clubs and us for the sporting part, is to resume the meeting”, interrupted when Monaco led 3-1, said referee Bastien Dechepy during a short speech to the press. The match, started at 7 p.m., resumed at 9 p.m.
This new episode of excesses of supporters, in a very turbulent Ligue 1 season in the stands, could be worth disciplinary sanctions to Saint-Etienne, whose ultras had already been talked about this season at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium.
On Saturday, many smoke bombs were lit in the stands on the occasion of the 30and anniversary of the ultra group of Green Angels, in the south kop, and some fell on the lawn, prompting the referee to stop the match. The meeting, counting for the 34and day, had been interrupted for the first time at the very end of the first period, at the 45and minute, for similar facts.
Incidents in October
This season, the fans of the Saint-Etienne club had already been talked about when the kick-off of the match against Angers was delayed by one hour on October 22. Incidents had broken out at the time of the pre-match protocol, several ultras from Saint-Etienne having entered the lawn and having sent rockets and other smoke bombs and damaging the goal nets, which had to be darned in a hurry.
Pending the meeting of the Disciplinary Committee of the Professional Football League (LFP), these repeated clashes expose ASSE to heavy sanctions at a time when the poorly ranked club is fighting to save its place in the League. 1.
Similar incidents occurred on Friday in Ligue 2 in Nancy, where the match against Quevilly-Rouen was definitively stopped at 3-0 for the Norman club, after fans threw smoke bombs protesting against Nancy’s relegation. The Disciplinary Committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) must meet urgently on Monday about the match between Nancy and Quevilly.
In Ligue 1, the 2021-2022 season was marred by several incidents, such as the throwing of water bottles during Montpellier-Marseille and Lyon-Marseille (on Dimitri Payet), where the match had been stopped, or even a fight general with invasion of the field in Nice, still facing OM.
A pitch invasion also disrupted the North derby between Lille and Lens (1-0) in September.